I couldn't get your email to work so...I posted it here.
Okay, I know some of this has been mentioned, but I figured I'd just lay down how my line of thought went...
I also posted these at http://www.appleswitch.com/Pfhorums
First:
The shotgun has a metal ring right below the trigger guard. I'm going to assume that it spins along that. I'm not sure how it reloads though.
Here's how I see how it works:
1. Mr. Bad-Ass pulls the trigger
2. Buckshot flies out of the barrel(s), smearing the poor, hapless, but deserving alien all over the wall
3. Mr. This Is My Boomstick then flicks his wrist make the shotgun rotate backwards along the metal ring (Using the recoil from the blast to help it on its way)
4. As the shotgun comes around the force of its rotation ejects the shotgun shells outwards
5. Mr. Marine now reloads the gun with fresh shells and is somehow quick enough to grab it by the handle on its way around
Maybe he uses his other hand to reload it on the way around
or...
There is a line of shells attached to the ring, so that when the shotgun comes around it picks up some shells and reloads itself.
Second:
HAHA I thought of something else...
You've heard of the Winchester lever-action rifles right?
You load up to 10 bullets into the gun through the top and it fills up the inside of the gun. Well once you fire it you have to pull a lever that's behind the trigger guard forward and then back to have it reload. This ejects the spent shell and puts a new one in its place. However, once the lever is pushed back to its original position behind the trigger, the new bullet is fired. So, if you hold the rifle by the pump-lever when you fire and then let the recoil carry the gun along the axis of the lever, it will spin and reload and then fire immediately...
Here's an image of one of these rifles:
http://www.nationalcowboymuseum.org/images/g_ente_rifl.jpg
Well I took a look at it and I think I've figured out how it works.
Okay, if you look at the WASTE-M5 information in Anvil, the clip size is pretty large (I think 10)
Now, the WASTE-M5 has a lever behind the trigger just like the Winchester rifle.
So, our handy marine pulls the trigger and then lets the recoil of the blast carry the gun (which if you noticed is really short and REALLY powerful) around along the axis of the thing I called the "metal ring" (which he has rotating around his hand) the lever ejects the spent shells and pushes some new ones into place, once the gun comes back around it then fires immediately...which explains the Shotguns high rate of fire.
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Now, I know that the shotgun having a large clip has been discredited and you never see him reload. But...if you look at the shotgun, there is a bulge that looks like a drum clip (or revolving clip, like a 6 shooter) that sticks out on both sides. Now, this would explain the breach loading on the shotgun. To refill it with shells you have to pop it open and fill it up again. Once it's been loaded it fires and reloads like a lever-action rifle. Also the shells could be held perpedicular to the barrel instead of parallel.
Now the explain the lack of a reloading animation. When you pickup any gun from the ground it comes preloaded with a full load/clip. So, when you pickup the shotgun, its already fully loaded. Also, take the Winchester I mentioned. Once the lever is pushed forward and back, a new bullet is put into place and fired. So this would also explain the lack of reloading and the almost constant rate of fire. Of course this doesn't explain what happens when you pick up more ammo BEFORE you're completely out of rounds.
I thought I'd send you my rantings, I know some of it has already been mentioned in the puzzelling things about weapons section, but I thought I'd add onto some of the theories already mentioned
Regards,
Ben Maish (aka: LegacyTyphoon)
